Sect of the Broken Mind

An eccentric girl from outside Haven introduced in The Touch of Heaven and another immune. She is actually Aria Summers, the lost daughter of Chayne Summers.

Action Girl: Fully willing to take the initiative into rescuing Tango and Miles from Jango by plowing a car into the store they're being held in and leading a high-speed chase back to Haven.

Ambiguous Disorder: Kooky, detached, slow to social cues, and seemingly oblivious to her own amorality, hinting at some sort of major social disorder.

Anti-Hero: Celia's forceful, seemingly apathetic to the people she constantly puts in harm's way around her, and tends to make decisions for people without their consent  up to casually playing with the minds of people and wiping their memories when it's most convenient. Unlike many examples of this trope, Celia doesn't necessarily come off as a typical anti-hero or even consciously selfish, with many of her more unnerving or borderline sociopathic moments seeming to be a product of her own obliviousness.

The Atoner: Post-Haven, Aria blames herself for the destruction of Haven on her own selfish actions and spends years trying to get over it and make up for it. Naturally, Aria is absolutely pissed when Chayne Prime shows a similarly cavalier attitude toward all the lives she's ruined through the Cycle.

Blue and Orange Morality: To an extent, but Celia doesn't seem to register what's wrong with dragging people she barely knows away from their homes into life-or-death missions, casually controlling their minds, or even leaving the rotted corpse of her own dead grandmother simply splayed out in the middle of her own home. Heaven & Hell establishes she's getting better.

Break the Cutie: The original Chayne does this hard to her when she refuses to sit quietly in Nirvana, and the resultant Mind Rape ends up destroying her so thoroughly she's driven to kill herself.

Cloud Cuckoolander: Celia seems to behave like she's on a different wavelength from everyone. Unfortunately, this behavior more often than not endangers everyone around her as well.

Earn Your Happy Ending: After all the pain in the end, Aria ends up running her parents' old company in the new world, working on making amends for everything and coming to grips with everything that's happened.]]

It's All About Me: Celia's actions in The Touch of Heaven are definitively and consistently selfish, mostly hinging on a desire to take Tango out of Haven and into the Sect for her own convenience. Bizarrely enough, Celia doesn't even seem aware of her selfish actions until the very end of the story when her actions inadvertently result in the destruction of Haven and the needless death of thousands of innocent people.

Jerk with a Heart of Gold: As careless of other people's feelings she can be, Celia genuinely means well and she is horrified when her actions cause more destruction than they ever meant to cause. Come Heaven & Hell, she seems to have mostly developed into a much nicer person, empathizing with Mint's desire to see Tango again and cheerfully socializing with them and many others at a party.

Kick the Morality Pet: On the receiving end of this from Chayne, who dismisses the pain she causes her as 'education.'

Lack of Empathy: Deconstructed. Celia isn't necessarily intentionally unsympathetic to everyone around her, but her constant use of force and psychic powers to get what she wants and general antipathy towards everyone around her  including her own dead grandmother  don't seem to click with her. It's this behavior which ends up leading Jango directly to Haven, which, coupled with Alice's manipulations, ends up with thousands killed, which finally cracks Celia. She seems to have gotten her head on straighter by the time of Heaven & Hell, even scrawling herself reminders not to casually play with people's minds in her room.

Like Mother, Like Daughter: Aria's cavalier and aloof attitude towards everyone around her in The Touch of Heaven seems to be a byproduct of her being Chayne's daughter. Aria ends up calling Chayne Prime out on this after a stint of character development in The Radiance of Heaven.

Morality Chain: No pun intended, but Aria is the thing that keeps Chayne tied to any semblance of goodness.

Morality Pet: One of the only things Chayne cares about. Unfortunately this doesn't do much to stop Chayne's plans.

Took a Level in Kindness: In the first part of Heaven & Hell, Aria's become notably kinder and more considerate to Mint, with any implicit consent she has in her father's plan to hurt Mint incredibly reluctant on her part.

Walking Spoiler: Her identity of Aria Summers, the daughter of Chayne thought dead for three entire books, seals her as one of these.

You Are Not My Father: Chayne Prime's actions in having kickstarted the Heaven Cycle and destroying trillions of lives through it all to set up a paradise for Aria results in Aria furiously disowning Chayne as her mother, renouncing herself as Aria to adopt her old name Celia, and chewing Chayne out on her inability to own up to her actions — something Aria once did herself all the way back in Haven.

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The enigmatic leader of the Sect of the Broken Mind, and one of the most powerful immunes on Earth.

Abusive Parents: Azazel, for all intents and purposes, is his father. He is not a pleasant one to have.

The Atoner: He takes on this role as of the latest chapters, admitting his sins and what he's got to make up for.

Bad Boss: He, in the words of the story, 'doesn't seem bummed' at having abandoned all his followers to 'a horrible fucking death,' all for the sake of testing his emotional connection to them. It's downplayed — if not quite subverted — when he reveals it destroyed him to do this.

Blue and Orange Morality: Admits that he's distanced himself from the notions of "right" and "wrong" and teaches his disciples to eschew individuality and any connections they may have with humanity. Thousands of years of having pursued his mission only to be revealed as Chayne's Unwitting Pawn forces him to stop and question his mission, though, and Azazel's continued abuse leads to him accepting he's more human than he thought.

The Chessmaster: When he finally decides to atone for his crimes in Azazel's name? Erebos leads Azazel, Abaddon, and even Tango and Dirgence on with a supposed infiltration mission — only to reveal his true ace in the hole was Sarie, leading to him to successfully out-gambit Azazel.

Dark and Troubled Past: Was, in actuality, a Greek child from Helike who was taken raised by Azazel, who had Helike, and his parents, tortured to death by Naberius. Nestor, or Erebos, was then used as a puppet for Azazel for thousands of years on a mission that turned out to be all a lie at the end.

The Dog Bites Back: Thousands of having been led on by Azazel with a lie after Azazel had his entire civilization destroyed by Naberius. Erebos turns the tables on him utterly in the mission into Tartarus.

Freudian Excuse: His homeland was annihilated by Naberius and he was raised by Azazel of all people.

HeelFace Turn: Thanks to Tango giving him a new perspective, though he was little of a "heel" in the first place.

Must Make Amends: Decides to do this after his Big Damn Heroes moment in Untermyer, to embrace his humanity and finally give Azazel what's coming to him in repentance to his amoral actions.

Not So Different: Believes he and Azazel are more alike than he once cared to admit.

Really 700 Years Old: Erebos is actually thousands of years old and has presumably known how to use his powers since, having kept himself alive through Body Surfing.

Unwitting Pawn: Azazel's kept Erebos as one for thousands of years, having him spread the message of Hell to locate more followers for him to pick out for his army of transfigured Shades and keeping Erebos' loyalty with a promise of eternal bliss at the end of the war — which, in truth, was merely the eternal agony of transfiguration. The instant Azazel reveals his true treachery, though? Erebos turns the tables on him.

Sarie Crowland

Appears in: Heaven and Hell (The Ambition of Hell and The Radiance of Heaven)

One of Jackson's friends in the present day and a member of the Sect of the Broken Mind.

Badass Adorable: An adorable sweetheart, and a badass fighter who helps take out the Lord of Hell.

Big Damn Kiss: She gives a hell of one to Jackson toward the end of the Cycle.

Buxom Is Better: When Sarie first takes off her jacket, Mint briefly notes Sarie has quite a chest to her.

Cuddle Bug: Immediately becomes very physically attached to Jackson in the ending, after they've officially confessed to each other.

Genki Girl: Almost perpetually in a cheerful, energetic, go-getter mood.

Hero Antagonist: Briefly serves as one of these to Mint as Sarie is lead to believe by Jackson that Mint is still Alice. Once Sarie gets a chance to read Mint's mind and realize that they aren't, Sarie immediately drops any signs of antagonism towards Mint and even helps them later when she fears Aria may want to cause Mint harm.

HeelFace Turn: Initially a member of the Sect of the Broken Mind, later one of the top good guys.

Heroic Sacrifice: Subverted. Sarie comes within a hair of giving her own life to give the good guys a head up against the army of demons and angels, and the chapter title she does it in ("Sarie's Farewell") even hints she's done for. Against all odds, Tara pulls a Big Damn Heroes and prevents her from giving her life, although the consequence of nearly doing so hurts her relationship with Jackson bad.

Hidden Depths: Underneath her Genki Girl exterior, Sarie is surprisingly cynical and depressed, having almost no faith whatsoever she'll manage to win the war.

I Owe You My Life: Pledged her loyalty to Erebos when he saved her from death at the hands of the angels, and even when Mint offers her an alternative to completing the war against Heaven, she still looks up to him as her idol.

Knight In Sour Armor: She has no faith in the heroes' crusade to stop the Cycle and never manages to fully attach herself to either Jackson or the Sect's own mission because she firmly believes it will all end in disaster. In spite of that, Sarie fights tooth and nail for the sake of their mission because she cares for her friends that much, even almost throwing away her own life just for the slim possibility Jackson and the others can make it out.

Naïve Newcomer: Compared to the other members of the Sect. Sarie's the most recent addition and the youngest among them, and thus is the first of theirs to turn around as she hasn't been fully indoctrinated by Hell's strange philosophies.

Nice Girl: One of the absolute nicest characters in the series. Whereas most other members of the Sect are portrayed in various shades of aloof to downright callous, Sarie by contrast is nothing but supportive and cheerful, never having wanted to do anything with the Sect's goal of destroying humanity and acting friendly and supportive to almost everyone she meets, casting aside her crusade to hurt Mint (whom she thinks is Alice at the time) the moment she realizes they're innocent and helping the good guys without any form of hesitation.

Prophet Eyes: As a quick indicator she's an immune, Sarie has completely white eyes that flash whenever she uses her Mylotheian powers.

Psychic Powers: Like the rest of the immunes. Sarie mostly seems to use passive mind reading in contrast to Aria who casually erases people's memories, only once ever using her powers to control Mint's mind once (when she still believes Mint is Alice).

Senseless Sacrifice: Almost. Tries to give her own life to save the others from a mob of demons and angels — which wouldn't have taken as Tara's Big Damn Heroes moment saves them all a second later. Jackson is mortified Sarie tried to throw away her own life after she'd promised she'd make it out with him.

Token Good Teammate: The Sect's members all have an end goal of the destruction of all humanity, with varying states of morality about them, but Sarie's easily the most straight-laced of them and admits she's happy Mint and the others came to the Sect with new information, meaning she doesn't have to help in the destruction of Earth.

An immune specializing in the research of Heaven and Hell's energies, particularly the Menhirs.

Boom, Headshot!: Killed like this in the Battle of Yonkers, directly by Pluto.

Does Not Like Spam: Digit hates Captain Crunch, in sort of a bizarre parallel to Tango's love of Fruit Loops, and takes this hatred to comically exaggerated levels by using his hatred of the cereal to provoke an emotional reaction strong enough to split his Shade from his body.

Everyone Has Standards: Digit's not entirely exempt from the Sect's more bizarre, callous tendencies, but the revelation of Azazel's true plot in Solomon — and his banishment of Cryne to Tartarus — horrifies Digit.

Impossibly Tacky Clothes: Seems to think the pinnacle of fashion is wearing around a tuxedo everywhere, which Tango utterly ridicules him for.

Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Digit's a bit smug and prone to many of the Sect's more condescending tendencies at times, but compared to someone like Burles, he's one of the nicest people in the Sect and he's quick to join Tango after seeing the true scope of Naberius' power for himself.

Moe Greene Special: After he's shot by Pluto, Sarie sees his corpse with the shot having gone through his eye, through his glasses.

Nerd Glasses: Wears a large, round pair similar to Mint's own, further accentuating his place as the "smart guy" of the Sect.

The Smart Guy: Essentially serves as this for the Sect, with his role seeming to be to collect and use information on Heaven and Hell's special energies for the Sect.

Taught by Experience: Seems to promote this kind of ideology, if him tossing Tango and their friends off a cliff to teach them how to harness Hell's energies for flight is any indication.

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The Fundamentalist: Believes the followers of Hell and their divine crusade is right, and everyone else is wrong. Performs Mind Rape on anyone who protest that in any way, shape or form.

Heel Realization: Naberius forces him to see the futility of his mission and that he and the rest of the Sect are playing right into Chayne's hands. Unfortunately for Naberius, this also gives Burles the motivation to stop being such a hard-ass and give his life to let the others escape as "one last thing right."

Heroic Sacrifice: His last action is to deliberately use Hell's energies to blow himself to let the others escape from Naberius, as well as liberate the thousands of souls Naberius was keeping in tortured bondage in his "art house."

Jerkass: Among the biggest in the Sect. Burles is aggressive and condescending almost every moment he's on-page, treating Jango and Maxine as liabilities at best due to their lack of power and using open violence to shut up their protests. He snaps out of it a minute before his death.

Sacrificial Lamb: One of the first named characters to bite it in Radiance, conveniently not a few chapters after he's introduced.

The Children of Heaven

The leader of the Children of Heaven, the contingent of immunes that serve Heaven, and the archenemy of the Sect of the Broken Mind.

Asshole Victim: Finally killed in the war between Heaven and Hell with nobody mourning him, left ignominiously just like the thousands he'd left dead behind him.

Bad Boss: Will abuse his minions at the slightest provocation when he's feeling stressed Just ask Leviathan.

Berserk Button: Reminding him of being Lazaros is a surefire way to trigger his anger. Insanely so.

Body Surf: How he's stayed alive for centuries, and he shows much more willingness to do so than Erebos.

Butt-Monkey: Every single time he appears, something goes wrong for him. Mint kicks him out of their mind with relative ease and utterly humiliates him the second time in front of Uriel, and Naberius slashes his face and taunts him the next time. This starts to change after he murders Charles, where he becomes a truly dangerous threat utterly intent on seeing the heroes and their hopes destroyed.

Card-Carrying Villain: Unlike the psychological turmoil that drives Chayne, Alice, and Leviathan, the craving for stimulation that motivates Ash, and the bitter, trillion-year-old sibling rivalry fueling Heaven and Hell, there's absolutely no greater force driving Pluto. He's nothing more than a sadist on a power trip, and he revels in it.

Cruel and Unusual Death: Tango blows a hole through him, and Mint proceeds to slowly crush his skull. A rare case where this is utterly, wholly deserved, as Pluto specialized in doing even worse to people.

Disproportionate Retribution: Has a knack for utterly out-of-proportion vengeance to anything that slights him and Heaven. When Tango accidentally plays into a scheme that ends with the destruction of Solomon? Pluto decides fair retribution to them is to murder their father and then proceed to order all of Yonkers to be massacred by his followers.

Dirty Coward: Pluto's first response to his plans and schemes being waylaid is to book it as fast as he can, keeping a reserve of well over thirty bodies to possess just in case he needs to mind-jump out of a hairy situation.

Evil Counterpart: Though Erebos isn't exactly a paragon of goodness, Pluto is still noted to be much worse, taking Erebos' distance from humanity Up to Eleven by expressing murderous sadism and a willingness to casually possess or torture people at his own leisure.

Evil Is Petty: Willing to unleash the Phantom, having the populace tear each other apart... to pin it on Mint.

Face Palm Of Doom: How Mint kills him, taking him by the head — and crushing it like a grape, killing both his body and his Shade.

Faux Affably Evil: Seems to love to hear himself talk, casually chatting up Mint with a friendly smile while simultaneously letting them know with the same face and tone he's here to either turn Mint into a God or torture them into Ascending. Pluto also indicates to Mint he acts more vicious to "keep up appearances" in the real world.

Freudian Excuse: Pluto grew up as a Nubian slave in ancient Egypt with no friends or family, living as such until he was liberated by a strange, swarthy man who awakened his powers. It's not even remotely enough to excuse him.

Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: His above excuse? Not nearly sufficient to explain or to excuse him. At his core, he's a sociopath who delights in the power he's given.

Hate Sink: A loathsome, vile, sickening bastard who orders atrocity after atrocity, and represents the worst evils of the Heaven side.

Godzilla Threshold: Weaponizing the Phantom is considered a point of no return by Amanda, enough to horrify her with its potentially disastrous effects on the populace.

In Their Own Image: Pluto's long term goal, as well as the rest of the Children he commands, as a reward for serving Heaven. Pluto plans to help Heaven win the war and annihilate all life on Earth so he and his followers can create their own versions on Earth over top the ashes to rule over as gods.

Knight Templar: As a servant of heaven, Pluto is hellbent on supporting Uriel and Heaven, no matter how hideous the work.

Mind Rape: Engages in this with utter aplomb, tormenting his victims with mental assaults to break them down or leave them vulnerable for him to go in for the kill.

Never My Fault: Pluto never accepts responsibility for anything that goes wrong.

Not-So-Harmless Villain: Pluto, for a while, talks a big game and certainly showcases his viciousness eagerly and willingly, but he's a small fish in a big pond and he has a tendency to get his ass whupped every time he's on-screen while accomplishing nothing, with even Mint treating him as nothing more than a nuisance. Then Pluto decides he's done screwing around and murders Charles Waits right in front of Tango's eyes.

Psycho Supporter: Completely and utterly for his lord Uriel. He's a vicious fanatic to say the least.

Psychopathic Manchild: Pluto is highly immature and totally insane, frequently lashing out in tantrums at the nearest target.

Smug Snake: Probably beyond any other villain in the series. Pluto talks a big game and he's a relentless, arrogant sadist, but he is way out of his depth when it comes to the war between the tulpas, with Mint, Uriel, and Naberius all letting him know how misplaced his arrogance is.

Smug Smiler: He is almost always smiling when things go off as he plans.

We Can Rule Together: For all of his wanton murder and sadism, Pluto really wants Mint on his side and tries to convince them to Ascend, through coercion, threat, and even trying to genuinely assure them that as a God, they'll be able to recreate all those they've lost on Earth when the war starts. Mint always responds to him with a pronounced Shut Up, Hannibal!.

We Have Reserves: His approach to his men is basically 'plenty more where that came from.'

Those Wacky Nazis: A former Obersturmführer who happens to also be an immune affiliated with Heaven, who's stayed alive through body-surfing. Specifically, Leviathan seems to be of the Wicked Cultured variety.

Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: Between him and Everiett, Avery is clearly the one with the more sadistic sense of humor, cheerfully mocking the mangled corpse of one of the Children's "loose ends" and getting a good chuckle out of it to Everiett's clear irritation.

A particularly eccentric member of the Children of Heaven Mint and George encounter.

Ax-Crazy: An utter nutcase whose ideal utopian Earth is one filled with thousands of severed heads sewn into grim caterpillars of agony. This seems to be more played for laughs than anything given Averys exasperation with his psychotic ramblings — up until Tex murders George while giggling.

Cloudcuckoolander: Doesnt seem to be all there mentally, apparently believing that spiked eldritch abominations speak to him and want him to take the Earth. Tex implies acid might have something to do with it.

Companion Cube: His spiked club. When it breaks as he stabs George, Tex flies into a sobbing panic, long enough for Mint to kill him.

Neck Snap: Mint kicks the bottom of his head hard enough to break his neck.

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